The Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle was an upgrade to the Mark 1 Lancer Assault Rifle, produced with a chainsaw bayonet, increased accuracy, lower recoil, and larger ammunition carrying capacity compared to its predecessor. Designed by Professor Adam Jonathon Fenix during the first year of the Locust War, the second-generation Lancer soon became the staple weapon of Gears across Sera and the official workhorse of the COG.

Contents

There are conflicting canon sources for this article: Gears of War: Jacinto's Remnant, Gears of War: Judgement.

The Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle was the Coalition of Ordered Governments' current standard-issue assault rifle for Gears fighting on the front lines. The signature weapon of the COG, the Lancer possessed a fully automatic mode of fire and the iconic Chainsaw Bayonet attachment for melee combat, despite the fact that the chainsaw was originally for utility purposes. One of the most popular rifle designs on Sera, the Lancer saw extensive use after the Pendulum Wars. The Lancer's long service record was a result of its rugged reliability and reputation as a versatile assault rifle. Although intended for mid-range combat, the Lancer was also effective at longer ranges due to its low recoil.

Despite the existence of a Locust Horde counterpart to the Lancer, the Hammerburst assault rifle, Locust have been known to use the Lancer. Some Theron Guards and Drones were reported to have used the Lancer against COGGears. The Cyclops, a variation of the Drone, were exclusively armed with the Lancer; these Cyclops had a particular tendency to use the Chainsaw Bayonet.

The idea of changing the original Lancer into the chainsaw bayonet Lancer was the product of Marcus and Adam Fenix, and inspired by a desperate combat maneuver performed by Tai Kaliso, one year after Emergence-Day, during the Battle of Jannermont. Like Marcus, many Gears were complaining that the original bayonet blade didn't work well on Locust armor or their thick hides. Marcus informed his father about it failing in its design and soon after, Adam produced a prototype Lancer with a chainsaw bayonet attachment. This made it easy to slice through the Locusts' thick hides.[2] The design required a redesign of the internals of the rifle to accommodate the chainsaw blade and drive system[3] but nevertheless, it became a success and entered mass production.

One of the Lancer's most distinctive and popular features is its notorious Chainsaw Bayonet. The chainsaw consists of razor-sharp, carbide-tipped blades powered by a variable-torque motor, and is capable of killing an enemy in seconds.

The Gears of War 3 Lancer is a distinct weapon that plays the support role. Starting out with 300 rounds, its maximum capacity is 420. First, you must know the range of the Lancer. It should be fired in medium range. No other rifle is good at this range, so stay in it as much as possible. Move forward, than back when in battles. This way, it can land more shots and down enemies quicker. The Lancer has a 50% damage increase, so that, with an perfect active reload, is lethal and your down times will be quicker and your Lancer will be more powerful, efficient, and accurate than even the 2-3 round bursts of Retro Lancers. Staying in medium range will make your down times as short as 0.73 seconds. The Lancer is also good at long range. Use these opportunities to support your team. The more your enemy is running for cover, the less they are hurting your team. If you're playing KOTH and you need to win, do NOT be afraid to plop out your Lancer to help.

In Gears of War, the Lancer had only one animation for using its chainsaw bayonet. In Gears of War 2, there are two animations, depending on what direction the player approaches their target from. If the player attacks their target from the front, the standard chainsaw animation will play out, with the player cutting their target from the right shoulder down and out the left side of the torso. But when the character comes up to the enemy from behind, he will throw his Lancer up in the air while at the same time flipping it over and catching it. While it is upside down, the character will then run the bayonet into the enemy from his crotch through his abdomen and drag it upwards through the torso until it finally bursts through his neck and the corpse splits into two. The character then flips the Lancer over in victory. In Gears of War 3 the Lancer now has its own execution, in which the player flips the downed opponent onto their back, jabs the rifle into their chest and turns on the chainsaw, mutilating the enemy as bits and blood splatter onto the screen. In Gears of War 4 the execution changes slightly, with the player drawing the chainsaw through the downed opponent's abdomen: starting from the shoulder downward.

The Mk 2 Lancer appears as a usable weapon in the video game prequel, Gears of War: Judgment, despite not being designed and put into service to replace the Mk 1 Lancer until over a year later.

The Mk 2 Lancer's chainsaw bayonet was inspired by Tai Kaliso's improvisation of a powered-saw during the Battle of Jannermont one year after Emergence Day. However, Gears of War: Judgment takes place a mere two months after Emergence Day and the Mk 2 Lancer is seen in mainstream use. This is a continuity error that is seen in the cinematic cutscenes as well as the gameplay.

The gun appears to have a semi-automatic mode of fire, as demonstrated by Bernie Mataki in the novel "Aspho Fields", though this is not represented in the video games.

In Gears of War 2, the Lancer seems to have had its chainsaw "pushed" back further inside the gun, shortening the grip for the gun. The grip is too small for the hands of the characters to go through so their fingers pass through part of the chainsaw. The original Lancer didn't have this design flaw. This flaw was amended in Gears 3.

In Gears of War 2, the Lancer has a longer barrel and holographic crosshair sights. The barrel will also exhibit a red glow and will start smoking after a prolonged period of firing.

With purchase of the limited editions of the game, the player can receive an all gold Lancer for online play.

In the Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Bonus Disk, it is mentioned in a documentary that Cliff Bleszinski wanted to add a chainsaw to a gun ever since he was little. When he put this idea out for Gears of War, several art designers, such as senior concept artist James Hawkins, didn't like the idea and then eventually came to like it once it was finalized.

The design and function of the Lancer's chainsaw bayonet drew the attention of Games Workshop, owners of the Warhammer 40,000 franchise, due to its strong resemblance to chainswords from 40k, as well as the chain bayonets found in the tabletop game's expanded lore. This briefly locked them and Epic Games in a copyright suit.

The Lancer has had its ammo capacity downgraded and upgraded. In Gears Of War, the maximum was 660 with a 60-round mag, but was downgraded to 550 in the second game with a magazine size of 50, then was upgraded to a maximum ammo capacity of 600 (in Horde 2.0, 420 normally) and a 60-round mag again in Gears of War 3. In Gears of War: Judgment, the 60 round magazine remains, but the total capacity is downgraded to 420 rounds in all game modes. In Gears of War 4 the magazine capacity is once again downgraded to 50 rounds with a maximum capacity of 550 rounds. However, the Custom Lancer retains the 60 round magazine, with a maximum capacity of 560 rounds.

Lancer Blueprint.

The Lancer is available as an Xbox LIVE Avatar prop in both steel and gold but like the steel and gold Hammerbursts and Retro Lancers, the steel and gold Lancer was removed on January 1, 2012 as part of Microsoft's new policy against "gun-like" avatar items.

In this Blueprint, it shows how the Lancer's ammunition is stored in the magazine. It has 4 rows of 14 rounds - 2 rows at the back and 2 at the front. The print also shows the firing mechanism and the how the Chainsaw Bayonet works. There is a gap in the middle of the magazine to allow the chainsaw to keep turning, even with a full mag.

Since its first appearance in Gears of War, the Lancer has lacked a crucial part of a functioning firearm - the ejection port. When fired in-game, the spent rounds just appear to shoot out of the side of the rifle. This has been rectified in Gears of War 4, where all three Lancer variants (Mark 1, Mark 2, and Custom) have ambidextrous ejection ports.

When the rifle is fired, the large disc on the magazine well with the blue affiliation light rotates with each round.

From Gears of War 2 onwards, the Lancer's barrel protrudes from the end of the weapon further than the chainsaw bayonet does. In reality, this would make jabbing the chainsaw into an enemy (which is done in several of the kill animations throughout the games) much more difficult if not impossible to do, especially without damaging the weapon's barrel.